


laughter lines

by eggplantemily



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Sad Ending, Summer, Utopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 00:51:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7384456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggplantemily/pseuds/eggplantemily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>lucas and maya live in a world where they can't fall in love. they do anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	laughter lines

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea for years, inspired by the book the giver
> 
> i wrote this in october for a school assignment, and i had to have be under 1000 words, honestly who do you think i am mrs smith, but i altered it and added a lil bit. also i’ve improved a lot since this so this is actually sooooooo bad and i also want to alter it more, get it out of the 1000 word limit
> 
> title from laughter lines by bastille (this song is legitimately the perfect song for this story)

“Attention all Eighteens, remember that at the end of this summer you will be assigned your life partner and occupations. Have a nice summer.” Maya hears the usual announcer voice come over the speakers. She sighs, not looking forward to her Assignment. She’s dreaded it since the day she understood it, she hates the idea of being with someone she doesn’t love and a job she doesn’t want. Her mom and dad say they love each other, but she knows it’s forced, they only love each other because they’ve spent twenty years together. She’s not once met someone who truly loved their Partner. She doesn’t want to be one of those people. She wants something real. 

She walks down the hall of her high school for the last time, she takes her backpack out of her locker for the last time. She closes her locker for the last time, and she’s bumped into the cold metal. She doesn’t mind much, it happens all the time, getting shoved with no apology. Only this time, she gets one. “Hey,” she hears a voice above her speak softly. “Sorry about that, my friends are careless.” 

Maya looks up to the voice and sees a handsome boy. He’s much taller than her, he has dirty blonde hair, gelled into a heroic hairstyle. She struggles to answer for words for a minute until she speaks again. “It’s okay, not the first time it happened.” 

Handsome Boy smiles, “I’m Lucas.” 

“Maya.” she answers. 

“I’ll see you around, maybe?” Lucas asks, sounding shy. How  _ he _ is shy, Maya doesn’t know.

“Yeah.” she says breathlessly. With that Lucas smiles again and walks away.

* * *

 

And Maya does, she sees him often after they meet. It turns out he just moved into Maya’s neighborhood, ends up living down the street from her. Maya rides her bike on her street one day, Lucas is sitting on the stoop outside his house. They catch eyes and Maya nearly crashes her bike. She rides up to him, confused. “Hey, stranger.” he says.

“Uh, hey.” Maya struggles. “Funny seeing you here.”

“Yeah, my family just moved here. Don’t know why, since I’m leaving in three months.” He sounds aggravated, Maya would be too. 

“Oh.” Maya nods. “Okay.”

“Wanna do something?” Lucas asks, out of the blue.

“Uh, like what?” 

Lucas smiles at Maya, Maya’s heart hurts. “I don’t know, an adventure, or something.”

“You could be a serial killer.” Maya questions.

“Maya, we literally live in a world where they choose our partners and jobs. I don’t think serial killers even exist here.” he smiles, calming Maya’s nerves.

Maya, because she refuses to conform to this jackass society, agrees. “Alright fine, let’s go on an adventure, or something.”

Lucas smiles and walks down his stoop and Maya follows.

* * *

 

The adventure ends up just being going to the ice cream shop around the block and talking for hours. They talk about Lucas, why he had to move. They talk about Maya, why she’s so careful. They talk about this stupid society and it’s stupid bullshit Assignments. They talk about their love for the arts. Maya loves art, Lucas loves music. Maya talks about her favourite artists. Lucas talks about his favourite bands. Maya learns Lucas is a  _ total _ music snob. 

At one point Maya gets ice cream on her nose and Lucas wipes it off gently. Maya blushes and tries to hide it, but she can tell by the way Lucas is looking at her, he sees. 

Lucas walks Maya home, "such a gentleman." She teases. 

"See you soon?" Lucas asks.

Maya nods and disappears into her house. She can already feel the panic in her stomach.

* * *

 

Maya and Lucas soon become very close, Maya thinks it's unfortunate. They see each other nearly everyday. Maya finds herself thinking about Lucas when he's not around; thinking about the shade of green in his eyes, the way his hands are twice the size of hers,  "Hey," Lucas speaks, one day when they're on top of a parking garage, watching the sun go down. "What do you think of the Assignments?" he’s unusually quiet when he asks. 

"I think they're stupid, unnecessary." Maya answers.

"Yeah, me too. Wish I could change it." Lucas says quietly, hopelessly.

"I just want to be with someone I love, y'know? I want something real."

Maya can feel Lucas's eyes on her as he says, "I'm real." Maya's breath catches after that. She looks up to him, they've said things like this since the beginning but this was different. Things are shifting. Maya is panicking.

Lucas leans towards her, and before Maya even knows what's happening, their lips are attached and she's trying not to panic. Maya has  _ never  _ done this before, she's stayed out of relationships her whole life, because she knew what was coming in the end. She knows this is  _ so _ stupid, but that sure as hell doesn't stop her. Lucas's lips feel like home against hers, they feel familiar, like they've already known this for thousands of years, in all their other lifetimes, in all other universes. In the universe that they know each other, where they can be together. As they kiss with the sun streaming through their silhouettes, with all cliché's in place, Maya and Lucas fall in love.

* * *

 

Things don't really change much after this, they kiss a lot more, but they still hang out every day. Maya beats herself up for it, for kissing him. She shouldn't have done it, she knows they have limited time, she knows she shouldn't have caught feelings. Yet she knows she didn't have a chance, knows when she laid her eyes on him, she was fucked. She wants to shy away from him, try to protect herself from the inevitable, but she can't. Every time he's around her world lights up, and she feels happy. He takes her out of her own head for a while, calms her down. 

Lucas takes Maya out on dates, they meet each other's family, and suddenly it's all too real. Maya thinks she might be in love with Lucas, she thinks Lucas is in love with her, and it freaks her out. It's a month into summer, out of three, they have 63 days left together. They never bring it up, they both know talking about it makes it real.

* * *

 

When two months into summer approaches, Maya gets more and more nervous by the day.  Her thoughts that Lucas might love her are confirmed when they're lying on Lucas's couch one afternoon. They've been silent, watching Friends on TV, Maya on top of Lucas's chest.  Her head is over his heart, she thinks that’s probably a metaphor for something to do with love. Maya thinks if this were the only thing she could ever hear again she wouldn’t mind. She could be lulled to sleep by the steady pounding under Lucas’s ribcage. Their peaceful silence is broken by Lucas when he, out of nowhere, whispers, "I love you." Maya's heart rate speeds up immediately, she feels like she's going to panic. Her fight or flight instinct kicks in and she’s already starting to bolt. Lucas, of course, knows her like the back of his own hand and he immediately knows how to calm her down. He drags his fingers up and down her arm, soothing her nerves and he tells her, "you don't have to answer, just thought you should know." Maya nods and calms slightly.

* * *

 

When there's two weeks left of summer, Maya's panic and fear becomes extreme. She's so far gone for Lucas. She's sure she loves him, she's sure they won't be paired together. "There's two weeks left of summer." She says quietly, hoping Lucas will understand her fear. They’re sitting on Maya’s bed, Lucas playing with her fingers. They’ve been quiet for the past hour, the only sound between them is their breathing, and the occasional kiss to Maya’s hand or cheek or lips. Lucas, fascinated by Maya. Maya, trying not to think about the fact that this will end. This will end very soon. She looks at Lucas looking at her hands. He looks at the faint freckles on her pale skin, she looks at the small scar on his forehead from when he was 5 and climbing on the counter and fell. She knows she should walk out right now, make this easier on both of them; but she doesn’t. 

"I still love you."

* * *

 

When there's an hour left of summer and they're lining up to be Paired, is when Maya  _ really _ panics. Lucas is the best person she’s ever met, he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her. She’s known him for three months but he’s dug his way into her heart and made a home there. Maya knows this is going to be the hardest thing she’ll ever have to do. She knows she’s going to be thinking about him for the rest of her life. It’s not fair, why couldn’t they have been born into an alternate universe where people can marry who they love, where they can have the job they want. Maya thinks about his tan arms wrapped around her, his giant body being her pillow, his green eyes staring into hers, his lips touching hers, making her fall apart. Maya starts to cry, she’s going to miss him so fucking much. She’s never going to be the same after this. He will always be a part of her now, and she doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Tears begin to fall from her eyes and, as if he can sense when she needs him, Lucas is next to her and holding her in his giant octopus limbs. 

“Lucas…” she squeaks, she can’t breathe. She needs him so bad. She breaks down, almost sobbing. She doesn’t think she’s ever cried like this.

"Hey." Lucas says, his voice soothes her. He holds her to his chest, cradling the back of her neck, almost petting her. He pulls away and makes her look at him. He holds her cheek. "We'll see each other again. One day this stupid thing will be over and we'll be together again. I promise." Maya nods between shaky breaths, although she knows it's not true. Lucas kisses her one last time, he lingers, she tries to hold every part of him as close as she can. She tries to remember his scent, his taste, his touch. She wouldn’t mind dying right here and being left with nothing but Lucas in her mind. Lucas meets her eyes for the last time and leaves to go be Paired. The name he’s paired with isn’t Maya’s. She’s not surprised.

  
  



End file.
